The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) will conduct a study on the country's apparel industry to find out the changes that are taking place in the sector after the Rana Plaza building collapse.

The private think tank made an announcement about the study titled “New dynamics in Bangladesh's apparel enterprises: perspectives on restructuring, upgradation and compliance assurance” at a programme in Dhaka on Tuesday.

The centre will highlight how better compliance and their implications for cost and competitiveness are bringing changes at the enterprise level in the garment sector, CPD said in a statement.

The study will come up with a set of recommendations towards future development of the apparel sector as a compliant, highly competitive, gender-sensitive, productivity-driven and decent labour promoting industry, according to the statement.

The study will build on CPD's recent work carried out in the aftermath of the Rana Plaza tragedy.

 The labour and employment secretary will chair the study's advisory group

Representatives from trade bodies, labour unions, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association, experts, activists, International Labour Organisation (ILO) and other stakeholder groups will also work in the study.

The two-year-long study will be prepared based on information generated through extensive enterprise-level survey, focus group discussions with workers and entrepreneurs and expert group meetings.

The study will be implemented by the CPD in partnership with embassies of Sweden, the Netherlands along with Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) and GIZ, the German development organisation.

Johan Frisell, ambassador of Sweden in Bangladesh; Martine van Hoogstraten, deputy head of mission; Franziska Korn, resident representative of the FES Bangladesh Office; Jochen Weikert, programme coordinator; and Monika Lueke, programme coordinator from GIZ, attended the launching event.

Mustafizur Rahman, executive director of the CPD; Debapriya Bhattacharya, distinguished fellow, and Khondaker Golam Moazzem, additional research director, were also present.